Eliezer Peri ( he, אליעזר פרי) born Eliezer Wilder-Frei; 2 February 1902 – 1 December 1970, was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for

Mapam Mapam ( he, מַפָּ״ם, an acronym for , ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party. History Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the kibbutz-based Hashomer Hatz ...

between 1949 and 1955.

Biography

Born in the village of

Surochów Surochów ( uk, Сурохів, ''Surokhiv'', initially uk, Сухорів Sukhoriv''Hrytsak E.'' (1936) Peremyshl` 100 ago. Перемишль: накладом товариства "Стривігор", друкарня А. Блюя; - С. 28) ...

, near Jarosław, in the Kingdom of Galicia (today in Poland), Peri helped establish a Jewish High School in Lviv, and was one of its first graduates. He joined the

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the group ...

youth group, becoming a member of its leadership and, in 1920, its secretary. Between 1922 and 1925 he studied law and humanities at a teachers' seminary. In 1924 he helped establish the World Federation of Hashomer Hatzair. In 1926, he made

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

to Mandatory Palestine. In 1929, he became a member of Haifa Workers Council. Amongst the founders of

HaKibbutz HaArtzi The Kibbutz Movement ( he, התנועה הקיבוצית, ''HaTnu'a HaKibbutzit'') is the largest settlement movement for kibbutzim in Israel. It was formed in 1999 by a partial merger of the United Kibbutz Movement and Kibbutz Artzi and is made ...

, he also helped establish kibbutz Merhavia in 1929. In 1930, he started work as an emissary of the

Histadrut Histadrut, or the General Organization of Workers in Israel, originally ( he, ההסתדרות הכללית של העובדים בארץ ישראל, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center ...

trade union and Hashomer Hatzair in Europe. Between 1933 and 1949 he served on the Histadrut's council and executive committee. In 1943, he helped establish the ''Mishmar'' newspaper (which later became ''

Al HaMishmar ''Al HaMishmar'' ( he, על המשמר, ''On Guard'') was a daily newspaper published in Mandatory Palestine and Israel between 1943 and 1995. The paper was owned by, and affiliated with Hashomer Hatzair as well as the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Pa ...

''), and was one of its first editors. The following year he became a member of the Assembly of Representatives. In 1948, he helped establish

, and was amongst the party's leadership. On several occasions, as editor of Al HaMishmar, he received letters from soldiers about the Israeli army killing civilians. In early June 1948 he received an account of an old woman and a child being shot; on 8 November he received a detailed description of events at Al Dawayima. This led to the issue being raised in the Mapam Political Committee and from there to the cabinet. The subsequent official inquiry, headed by Shimshon Schapira, remains classified and secret. He was elected to the Knesset on the party's list in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

, and in August 1949 was involved, for the first time in public, in a short debate about the expulsion of Arabs.Morris, page 242. From Ja'una, east of Safad "with brutality". He was re-elected in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

, but lost his seat in the 1955 elections, and in 1969 he left Mapam in protest at its alliance with the Labor Party, joining

Ya'akov Riftin Ya'akov Riftin ( he, יעקב ריפתין,16 March 1907 – 14 May 1978) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Mapam between 1949 and 1965. Biography Born in Wólka Profecka near Puławy in the Russian Empire ...

's Independent Socialist Zionist Union, which ran unsuccessfully in elections for the Histadrut. He died the following year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Peri, Eliezer 1902 births 1970 deaths People from Jarosław County Jewish socialists Polish emigrants to Israel Polish Zionists Hashomer Hatzair members 20th-century Israeli Jews Members of the Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine) Mapam politicians Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951) Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955)